DeSantis and Haley will appear at next week's CNN debate at the same time as Trump's Fox town hall
NEW YORK — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will appear at next week's Republican presidential debate on CNN, while former President Donald Trump will simultaneously participate in a Fox News town hall.
Both events will take place on January 10 at 9pm ET in Des Moines, Iowa, just five days before the state's first GOP voting contest.
The CNN debate, which will be moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will be the first to focus solely on the two candidates vying to become Trump's main rival. The former president leads by wide margins in polls among likely Republican voters.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who participated in previous debates, were not considered for the CNN event. Candidates had to achieve 10% support in at least three specific polls of likely Republican voters or caucus-goers, at least one of which counted voters only in Iowa.
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Trump did not participate in any of the earlier debates, saying he did not want to lend credibility to his rivals in the lower polls. Instead, he has typically held competing events, including an interview with Tucker Carlson and a trip to Michigan to criticize President Joe Biden and his push for electric cars during an autoworkers strike.
His town hall will air next Wednesday in the timeslot normally held by one of his top media supporters, Sean Hannity. But Hannity will be subverted that evening, with Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderating that session instead.
It was not immediately clear whether it was the Trump campaign or Fox News that initiated the plans for the town hall. A CNN spokeswoman declined to comment on the counterprogramming.
DeSantis and Haley have both criticized Trump for not participating in the debates.
“With only three candidates eligible, it's time for Donald Trump to emerge,” Haley said Tuesday. “As the debate stage gets smaller and smaller, it becomes increasingly difficult for Donald Trump to hide.”
Meanwhile, NBC News and The Des Moines Register said they would conduct a series of 30-minute interviews with DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy, which will be posted digitally Wednesday. Trump and Christie declined interview requests, NBC said.
Haley and DeSantis will also appear in back-to-back town hall events on CNN this Thursday.